Survey finds mixed views in France on Jews, Israel

(JTA) — A new survey on how French people perceive Jews revealed viewpoints widely seen as anti-Semitic alongside pro-Jewish sentiments.

The survey, conducted earlier this month, showed 39 percent of the 1,000 respondents agreed with the statement that “Jews possess too much power in business.” Another 21 percent disagreed; 40 percent said they were neutral.

Forty-seven percent of respondents said French Jews were more loyal to Israel than to France, while 15 percent disagreed.

Asked about their sentiments regarding French Jews, 43 percent said they had a “positive” view and 53 percent said they were neutral. Only 4 percent said they had negative views of Jews.

The poll was commissioned by the World Zionist Organization and published by the group on Jan. 24. It was conducted online Jan. 13 by Market Watch via a platform developed by the IPSOS polling firm.

On Israel, 20 percent of the respondents said they had a “favorable” view of the Jewish state, 61 percent said they were neutral and 19 percent said they had a negative opinion of Israel.

Fifty-four percent of respondents said “anti-Jewish sentiments” were the source of violent incidents targeting Jews, 19 percent attributed violence against Jews to “anti-Israel sentiments” and 27 percent had no opinion on the matter.